Leve, Gustave (1847 - February 1, 1919)

Gustave Leve (1847 - February 1, 1919), also known as Gaetan Leve, was a German American inventor, travel agent, investor, and printer based in New York. Leve was born in Breslau, Germany and emigrated to New York in 1863. In the 1870s he ran the Grand American Excursion Company, which organized luxury tours throughout New England. Later, with Henry Philip Alden (February 12, 1826 - December 31, 1897), he founded the Leve and Allen Printing Company. The firm printed mostly travel and real-estate promotional materials. In 1885, the firm went insolvent after Leve became involved in a fraud dispute with ink manufacturer William D. Wilson. Leve went back to tourism, capitalizing on rail travel to the south. He also patented multiple useful inventions, including a new kind of bed and a railroad car. Leve died in New York in 1919.